At this stage in our lives riddled with unanswered questions and unmet fears, the best way to help yourself is by helping others.
That’s why I’ve signed up for a mentoring program at my local elementary school. Over the next few months I’ll serve as a mentor and more importantly, a friend to an underprivileged student. One day per week, I’ll lend my time and ears to a 3rd grade boy who fails to receive the attention he deserves at home.I met with my new buddy for the first time yesterday. We spoke for an hour about his hobbies and interests. He’s pretty normal -- he loves playing video games and watching movies. We bonded over our shared admiration for the Harry Potter series. All the talk of ghouls and goblins from that conversation inspired me to ask him what his trick-or-treating plans were for Halloween next week.
Avoiding eye contact, he looked down and said he hoped his uncle would take him, but that he wasn’t counting on it. I asked why his 22-year-old brother wouldn’t take him, and he said the brother was content staying upstairs playing video games all night.
I was dumbfounded. Trick-or-treating is practically a First Amendment right. I imagine the solid majority of us never had to worry about having someone to take us out for a few hours so we could kindly ask neighbors to spare a miniature Hershey bar for our little pumpkin baskets.
His response made me appreciate what I have and where I come from -- something none of us do enough. And as I’ve learned, one’s quality of life skyrockets once he/she learns how to live in a state of eternal gratitude.
The best way to find that gratitude is to learn how the other side lives. The underprivileged. The undernourished. The unappreciated. The unwanted.
Do that, and I promise your perspective will change. Once that happens, you’ll recognize how lucky you are to have the life you do.
“The struggle ends where the gratitude begins.” -- Neale Donald Walsch.
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